Individuals who play racquet sports, in particular tennis, often find they are restricted to practicing when a partner is available to return the ball. In order to alleviate this time restriction, rebound devices or tools of various types have been sought out and used by athletes.
For example, players will often search for a simple brick wall or building to hit a ball against. One primary feature of using a rebound device, such as a brick wall, is the essentially continual availability of the practice "partner." Indeed, one advantage of a rebound device is that the "partner" never tires or complains.
In tennis, as in other racquet sports, repetition is a foundation of practice. A rebound device provides the ability to repeatedly practice a particular stroke or technique because the ball automatically returns to the athlete--assuming the ball is correctly hit to the rebound device. Moreover, repetition is easily accomplished because a rebound device will return the ball the same way each time.
While repetition is the foundation of practice, the ability to vary the type of stroke or return being practiced is a feature that is equally important to athletes. A device that does not provide the ability to vary the practice shots, will soon be discarded as boring and of little use. The variations preferably required of a rebound device include return angle and return speed of the ball hit against the rebound surface.
Rebound nets have been designed to provide certain adjustment to the return characteristics of the ball including the return angle and the return speed. One example of the tennis rebound net prior art is Balaz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,251, Tennis Ball Rebound Practice Net, disclosing tennis training equipment comprising a partially elastic net supported by a frame structure. The Balaz device specifically teaches the use of elastic vertical net elements while the horizontal net elements are inelastic. Because the horizontal net elements are inelastic, nonuniform tensioning of the net can result, which in turn, could cause inconsistent return characteristics.
Two other examples of rebound net devices include Martin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,313, Net Rebound Wall Adapter For Tennis Enclosure, and Martin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,271, Tennis Practice And Teaching Rebounder. The Martin '313 patent teaches a tennis ball rebound net structure that attaches to and is supported by a fence. As described in the Martin '313 patent, the rebound net is hung from cantilever arms supported at the top of a fence structure. The fence structure described in Martin '313 is the typical chain link fencing found surrounding public tennis courts.
Through the use of extensible and retractable pivoting arm members, the Martin '313 device provides the user with a limited ability to adjust the rebound net angle and vertical net tension. The Martin '313 device can only be used where a large and strong fence structure is available to support the net and frame, i.e., a public tennis court. Similar to the Balaz device, the Martin '313 rebound net provides no means of varying the horizontal tension of the net.
A limitation of the Martin '313 device is the requirement for a fence support. This is addressed in the Martin '271 patent. In Martin '271, a tennis teaching rebounder comprising a free-standing frame structure is disclosed. This device permits the user to adjust the vertical tension and vertical angle of the net.
As described and illustrated in the Martin '271 patent, two turnbuckles are used to tension the net in the vertical direction. Moreover, sliding the turnbuckles along lower frame members adjusts the vertical angle of the net. As described in the Martin '271 patent, there is no ability to vary the tension of the horizontal net elements.
Moreover, as disclosed, the Martin '271 device is a large piece of equipment, with the net itself measuring 9 feet in height by 10 to 16 feet in width. Due to its design, the Martin '271 frame structure is substantially larger than the net. As illustrated, the Martin '271 device is for use on a tennis court.
These devices generally describe representative examples of the prior art rebound net devices. In comparison to this prior art, it would be desirable to have a rebound net device that is portable, yet durable and sturdy, in addition to offering complete adjustment of the return angle of the rebounded ball, and adjustment of both the horizontal and vertical rebound net elements. Such results have not been achieved in the rebound net prior art.